ATHENS, GREECE

We arrived into the Greek capital Athens late and were instantly smashed by the heat. 30 degrees at midnight, it was like being hit with a hot baseball bat after rainy life in London. We tube-ed it into the city from the airport to find our hostel. After a bit of walking, sweaty backs, four flights of stairs and burning thighs, we found our dorm complete with KT - our mate who is joining us for the next couple of weeks.

Athens is a strange place. Not your usual European city of museums and monuments. It’s a tangled mess of streets, smoky cafes and confident Greek men sipping espressos. The entire city is dripping in sweat from the relentless sun.

After a decent sleep and hot strong coffees, we hiked up to the Acropolis, the dominant feature of the city, to enjoy the views. But it was a mess of tourists and construction so we trekked back down for gyros (pronounced year-os), Greek salad and more coffee.

Fun and games back at the hostel that night after a dehydrated Dane chugged water from the shower nozzle, only to say to KT:

Dane: So, can you drink the water here?
KT: No.
Dane: Bahaha.
KT: No, I’m not kidding.
Dane: #%*!

Dane spent the rest of the night listening to his stomach gurgle and hoping not to “tap out” as KT and I cried with laughter.

GRT.

Yours Truly and KT at the Acropolis.


We haven’t done this before, but we thought we’d post our top tips for all the places we go… if it stinks, let us know. Here goes:

Our Top Tips - Athens:

Do: take advantage of the amazingly strong, constantly flowing coffee.
Don’t: Drink the water! Bottled water is cheap from street vendors.

Remember:

There is no sewerage in Athens, so all toilet paper goes in the bins next to the loos, otherwise you’ll get a blockage! Not pretty.

Athens is a great place to use as a launching pad to see the Greek Islands. If you don’t like crowded cities, get out of Athens quick smart, a day is plenty of time.

We stayed:

Fivos Hostel - 23 Athinas Street Monastiraki, Athens.
We booked http://www.hostels.com/

Our verdict - pretty average, but clean and a complementary brekkie of stale bread, tomatoes, eggs and coffee. Bonus is it’s right in the centre of the city.

Next stop for us… Santorini in the Greek Islands!